Lawson Whiting, CEO and president of Brown-Forman Corp., will retire from his post effective upon the company’s appointment of his successor, according to various news reports and an announcement from the Louisville, Ky.-based spirits company. The Brown-Forman board has begun a search for his replacement, and Whiting is expected to serve in an advisory role for a period of time once the successor is named.

Whiting began working for Brown-Forman 29 years ago and was named to CEO and president in 2019. Marshall Farrer, chairman of Brown-Forman, said that “under Lawson’s leadership, Jack Daniel’s extended its presence into new international markets and categories, Woodford Reserve grew into the world’s leading super-premium American whiskey, and our founding brand, Old Forester, tripled in volume and increased net sales six-fold over the last decade.”

Just this year, however, merger and acquisition talks have dominated the news around Brown-Forman. First, in March, the company confirmed discussions with Pernot Ricard of a potential merger; a month later, those talks were terminated. Then, in May, Sazerac made a reported $15 billion offer to acquire Brown-Forman, which was rejected.